MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 49 



and brass. The one was made of small bars of 

 wood suspended on strings over a box, and struck 

 with a hammer, so as to give a sonorous tone. 

 The brass instruments were more various : one or 

 two were made of bars, suspended like those of 

 wood ; others of sets of hollow brass basins, as it 

 were, one upright and the other inverted over it ; — 

 each set was in a box, in two rows, and tuned so as 

 to harmonize with each other when different bars or 

 basins were struck simultaneously. There were 

 also one or two similar brass hollow instruments of 

 a larger size, and a gong or two.* The effect of 

 the whole, when at a little distance, was really 

 pretty, and the different tunes played, of a lively, 

 irregular measure, occasionally reminded us of 

 Scotch airs. The Rongo took one of the instru- 

 ments, made of the suspended brass bars, and played 

 a solo. The tone of the instrument was very pleasing 

 and delicate, and the Rongo seemed much gratified 

 with our applauses of his performance. 



Just at dark, in walking across the grass from 

 my bed-room to the dinner-room, I saw a small 

 snake gliding before me, and called one of the at- 

 tendants to come and kill it. This he did with much 

 caution, cutting it in two with a large padang, or 

 knife, for cutting sugar-cane ; and on shewing it to 

 the Rongo, he said it was " sakali jahat," or " very 



* Figures of all these instruments may be seen in Sir S. 

 Raffles' s History of Java, and Crawfurd's History of the Indian 

 Archipelago. 



VOL. II. E 



